The general principle (see Shbaat 75b) is that whatever is
fit to be “put away” – that is, things that are generally saved for later use,
indicating that they are valuable, are exactly the things which cannot be
carried in public on Shabbat. These are plants, dyes, medicines, etc. But
although the general principle has been explicated, there are many specific
examples. Those continue on this page, including perfumes, scraps of metal –
and, interestingly, the “moth-eaten [Torah] scrolls or their moth-eaten mantles”
which are stored away to be “hidden.”
By looking at these specifics we see a lot of about the
uses of certain materials at their time. Some are so specific, it is hard to imagine
that rabbis intended their statements to be for all time.For example natron (natar) – a kind
of soda ash which can be used for cleaning: The rabbis make it clear: “Alexandrian natron, but not natron
of Antipatris.”
Obviously a difference which made a great deal of sense to
them, but difficult for us to reconstruct.
More insight to the life of their times: it seems clear that
locusts were kept as children’s pets!
But this “charm” charmed me.
The Mishnah speaks of a “Bird of the Vineyards” (tziporet
karmayim) which cannot be carried out in any size, dead or alive. This
seems to be not a bird at all, but a species of locust. And it has a use as a
wisdom charm:
"Abaye observed: And it is found in
a palm tree of [only] one covering, and it is prepared [as food] for
[acquiring] wisdom; one eats half of its right [side] and half of its left,
places it [the rest] in a brass tube and seals it with sixty [i.e., many] seals
and suspends it around his left arm;
and the proof-text is. A wise
man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart is at his left.(Eccl.
10:2)"
(Ok, as a left-handed person, I am insulted. But let’s
continue:)
"He acquires as much wisdom as he
desires, studies as much as he desires, and [then] eats the other half, for if
[he does] not, his learning will vanish."
A charm which involves an action to turn it on (eating half), wearing an amulet, and then eating something (the other half) to turn it off.
Try it!
No comments:
Post a Comment